The next morning, we woke up early and packed up our things. Manuela once again served us a nice breakfast. Then we set off to the train station.
When we got there, we found Harald and the Carneys already inside. Now all we needed was Marty and we'd be all set. We knew the train would be running on time, but Marty and Cäsar weren't. Once again, I started to worry that we would miss the train! Ok, here he comes. No, Marty, no time to look at books! We've got to go!
Harald started off down to the steps that lead to the platform. I decided to stop worrying and just follow Harald. If Marty misses the train, he will just have to make it on his own.
Ok, I can calm down now. Marty finally followed us to the platform and we were there on time. We had just enough time to say goodbye and snap a couple pictures. Now it was my turn to get a little emotional. It was so sad to leave.
The train pulled up, we piled in, waved to Cäsar, Manuela and Philipp, then we were off.
The train was rather empty, so we had our pick of seats. After about 20 minutes, we got off at Gießen to transfer to another train. We had a about a half hour wait until our next train came. We boarded that and were off. Next stop, Cologne (or Köln). We didn't go far when I spotted an old round house. I wondered if we would see any steam engines. Yes! There was one sticking it's nose out of it's stall.
Since I couldn't sleep, I kept my eyes pealed to see what I could see out my window. At one point, we were coming into a town and I got the feeling if I looked hard enough, I might see a brewery somewhere. I mentioned that to Harald, too. The next thing I new, I did see something that looked like a brewery. Harald, what's that? Could it be? Yes! We saw a sign on the building and Harald confirmed it was a brewery. Talk about strange!
But even stranger things were to come! I now kept an even closer eye on the towns as we passed for the hope to see even more breweries. We were just pulling out of a station and still going fairly slow when I got a shock. Right next to the tracks was a man standing there with his pants down to his ankles! I told the others what I just saw. Harald, in his laid back way said something to the affect of, "Well, you just never know what you'll see." I think Jerry asked if the guy was aroused. No. Now why would you want to know that?! I didn't get a chance to take a picture, but I guess that's a good thing!
We had a good laugh about that little incident. Then we started to slow down to stop at the next station. Out the window I see a huge crowd of school kids waiting to board the train. Oh no! We had better all shift to occupy seats next to each other or else we'll be up to our ears in kids! As I anticipated, the kids boarded the train and were running around everywhere! Kids will be kids everywhere, I guess. It made me a little homesick for my own kids. Fortunately, the kids got off at the next stop and we were able to spread out again.
The next thing I started to notice as I peered out the window, was all of the construction cranes I saw. They were everywhere. The construction crane must be the German national bird or something! I started counting. I think I was up to 10 by the time we rolled into Cologne.
The first thing I noticed about Cologne was the huge train bridge we used to cross the Rhine river. Then we entered into the giant arched train station. No time to look out the window anymore. Time to get off the train before it started off again!
So we dash off the train and follow closely behind Harald. Harald lead us through the station and out to the street. That's when we got our first glimpse of the Dom! What a church! It was huge! Enormous! Gigantic! Colossal! Did I miss anything? Oh yes, gargantuan! It was also very big.
We'll go in there later, Harald promised. First we must find our hotel. Harald looked around and looked at his map then finally figured out where we needed to go. So we followed him down a couple of streets, past the Mac Donald's.
Then we saw the strangest sign along the edge of the sidewalk. There on the sign were two bare breasted women in front and to men in the back in a similar pose. One women was pinching the nipple of the other women and the men were doing likewise. Jerry said it must be an ad for the "Please Touch Museum"! That comment had us all in stitches for a while! I took a picture, but later deleted it from my camera. Jeff took a picture with his 35mm camera.
We walked another block and we were at our hotel, the Hotel Madison. We checked into our rooms. No elevator, of course. Had to lug all the suitcases up the stairs ourselves. Then we met back in the lobby to venture off into town.
At some point, we were in the Cologne visitor's center across from the Dom so I asked where an American Express office was. As luck would have it, it was right up the block. Finally, I was able to cash all of my freakin traveler's cheques and have some spending money again!
Next, Kölsch!
